IJAPS, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Special Issue, September 2011)
ETHNIC IDENTITY AND CONSUMPTION OF POPULAR
CULTURE AMONG YOUNG NAGA PEOPLE, INDIA
Satoshi Ota∗
School of Global Studies, Tama University
e-mail: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
The rapid economic growth of India has been internationally well recognised for
the past decade. Following the economic growth, its media products are also
beginning to be recognised. Hindi media products are most pervasively spread in
the country. This research is to investigate how the ethnic minority group of the
Nagas from the Northeast India is reacting when they are exposed to Hindi mass
culture. By looking at the young Naga people's consumption pattern of media
products, the reflection of political status of the Naga in India as well as their
identity vis-à-vis India becomes visible. The article argues that Naga people's
separate identity from India is reflected in their consumption pattern of media
products, which prefer to consume Western media products instead of Hindi mass
culture.
Keywords: Naga, ethnic identity, consumption, popular culture, India
INTRODUCTION
Recent rapid economic growth of India has been internationally well
recognised for the past decade. A new middle class is emerging, which is
becoming the main player of consumer society in India. In 1991, India
liberated its economic policy and opened its market for international trade
and investment, boosting economic growth. Earlier, India had been
practicing socialist economic policies since gaining independence from
∗
Satoshi Ota has a PhD in Social Anthropology from School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS),
University of London and is an Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Post-doctoral fellow at
University of Delhi.
© Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2011
IJAPS, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Special Issue, September 2011)
Satoshi Ota
Britain, which included protectionism, business regulations, central
planning and so on. The media and entertainment industries have also been
growing along with the economy.
According to Munshi (2008), television is the fastest growing
medium of entertainment in India. Over 85 percent of the urban populace
and 45 percent of the rural inhabitants own a television set. The subscription
to cable television is quite popular now and there are nearly 100 channels on
the cable network. Moreover, India is well-known for its film industry.
Many of these films are created in the city of Mumbai, formerly Bombay,
and they are popularly known as Bollywood films. The language used in
these films is mainly Hindi. In Delhi, where I conducted my fieldwork,
Bollywood films are the main genre of shows in the cinema halls and there
are many film channels on television showing Hindi films round the clock.
Bollywood films are also available in the form of pirated DVDs, which are
widely sold all over the country.
However, as Raghavendra (2009) mentions, the fact is that only about
one-third of the films made in India is in Hindi. In Tamil Nadu, West Bengal
and in many other places of India, movies are being made in their own
languages. The constellation of mass cultures in India is quite complicated,
but as Raghavendra (2009) also points out, since Bollywood has its
audiences dispersed across the Indian subcontinent, it can be said that Hindi
cinema is pan-Indian, articulating "national" concerns and addressing the
"Indian" identity. Therefore, the spread of Hindi mass culture to non-Hindi
speaking areas will expectedly make a certain impact on the cultures in the
regions. This research will investigate how the ethnic minority group, the
Naga from Northeast India is reacting when they are exposed to Hindi mass
culture. By looking at the young Naga people's consumption pattern of
media products, the reflection of political status of the Naga in India as well
as their identity vis-à-vis India becomes visible.
This research paper mainly looks at young Naga people living in
Delhi, many of whom move to the big city for study or work, partly with the
help of the Government of India's Reservation Policy, an affirmative action
to recruit more ethnic minorities in higher education and public service. It is
hardly uncommon for a Naga youth to experience for the first time a
completely different environment from his or her home located in Northeast
India. The majority of people in this area is ethnically close to the people of
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Ethnic Identity and Consumption
the Indo-china peninsula, who become more distinct when they move to
other parts of India. The minority stigma can be felt more strongly when
they come into a place like Delhi. Therefore, I have found it worthwhile to
conduct research on the Naga people in Delhi in order to understand their
identity struggle.
The research was conducted through anthropological methods by
collecting qualitative data. I stayed in Delhi from August 2007 to March
2011 with a few months break during the period. I met the first Naga person
in a student hostel of Delhi University and then expanded the contact
through networking. Others made my acquaintance at the department where
I was affiliated as a post-doctoral fellow. A few have become very good
friends of mine and they have taken me to places where many Naga people
gather, such as the church, fresher parties, seminars and so on, which has
offered me opportunities to meet many Naga people to interview. The data
was collected through participant observation, casual conversations and
unstructured/semi-structured interviews by spending time with them as
much as possible. I visited their homes for dinner or drink occasionally and
was invited to house parties. The university campus was also a good place
to meet and chat with them.
During my fieldwork, I collected data on the behaviour of media
consumption with the purpose to examine its relationship with ethnic
identity. This is because what people say does not always match what they
actually think and their comments may change depending on the
circumstances. It is the task of the researcher to interpret the context as well
as to consider the cultural background (cf. Geertz 1973). Collecting in-depth
data and analysing these enables a better understanding of Naga people's
perception of their ethnic identity.
The following sections of this article will use an ethnography excerpt
that depicts a party setting among young Naga people to show how they live
in a big city like Delhi. Central to the discussion is an analysis of their
language and behaviour in terms of consumer identity. In order to
contextualise and provide a general understanding of young Naga culture in
an urbanised environment, I will briefly explore Naga society and history.
The Naga possess a distinctive ethnic identity, which has become a cause of
their political struggle. Hence, understanding their identity question caused
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Satoshi Ota
by their historical experience will help the reader interpret the ethnography
better.
YOUNG NAGA PEOPLE IN DELHI
"I have to make a move soon," Vikali hung up her call and stashed her sleek
Nokia phone into her fancy hand bag.1
"Oh, you are leaving?" someone said to her.
She dressed neatly and put on her lipstick. About ten minutes later, her
phone rang again and she talked briefly in her clumsy Hindi into the
receiver.
"The cab has come, I have to go," Vikali said.
She wore a pair of nice little shoes and left for work. It was nine o'clock at
night.
I was invited to a house party by a friend of Vikali and mine, named Ayang,
on Friday night. There were about 10 to 15 people at the party, playing
American music from a laptop and drinking much beer. Personally, I cannot
drink much alcohol, so I was drinking Coke after a couple of glasses of beer.
The host of the party prepared pork dishes and we finally started eating. The
party went on till late at night. Some were playing cards, some were
drinking hard liquor and some were just chatting. One girl was talking about
her boyfriend, telling us that she doubted that he had an affair with a friend
of hers. Another girl at the party was either talking on her mobile or sending
text messages to someone. These young partygoers were wearing casual
clothes, although some of them were wearing foreign namebrands. A shirt
costs about USD20, which is quite an amount for average Indian people.
Many of them were young professionals, such as doctors or other white
collar workers, but some were students.
Vikali is also a young professional, working in the corporate sector.
She had to leave for work because it was Friday night, which was her office
hours. She works for a call centre, as do some other people at the party.
Most of these call centres operate for American or British companies that
have outsourced telephone operating jobs to India. India is a good place for
them to invest because it has a large English speaking workforce and
1
I use pseudo names in this article to protect their privacy.
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Ethnic Identity and Consumption
moreover, the labour cost is relatively low. Because of the time differences
between India and the U.S., call centres operate during the night. The
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies provide cars with drivers to
pick up the employees, which often allow them to avoid the rush hour
commute. Even if the BPO companies subsidise their travelling costs,
companies in the U.S. and U.K. can still reap bigger profits. There are many
young university graduates working in the BPO sector, making on average a
salary of INR20,000 to INR25,000 per month (approximately USD450 to
USD560 as per June 2011 rate).2 In Delhi, the average salary of a chauffeur
is about INR4,000 per month, and salaries for office workers in small Indian
companies can range between INR6,000–8,000. Those working in the BPO
sector generally earn more.
In the big Indian cities, there are many BPO companies and IT related
companies, which often employ young university graduates; some
companies also hire undergraduates, provided that they are enrolled for a
distance learning degree course with a university. These young professionals
now constitute the new middle class in India. The young people at the party
were also among these new middle class people. They have a new style of
living, which is immersed in a consumer society. Having received their
education in English, they speak the language fluently. In India, education in
English is quite common, but in North India, especially in government
schools, Hindi is the lingua franca. In many cases, those who have grown up
with an English education tend to come from the upper castes and pursue
higher education, which leads to taking higher paid jobs.
Vikali is from Nagaland and has also received an English education.
Unlike North India, Nagaland education is generally conducted in English
instead of Hindi. The partygoers were mostly Naga people, speaking their
local languages when conversing with others from the same tribe, but using
English when speaking to other Naga people.3 Because of their fluency of
English, many young Nagas work in BPOs.
Here, I would like to point out that the music they were playing at
the party was American rock music and sometimes they were dancing to the
2
3
USD1 converts approximately INR45 in June 2011.
The Naga consist of scores of sub-tribes. Each tribe has its own language and some tribes have local
village dialects. Tribal identity is an important factor when discussing Naga's political struggle; however,
since this article is to investigate how the political relationship between the mainstream Indians and
Naga people is affecting their media consumption, it will not get too much into the internal struggle of
the Naga community.
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music. One young man brought a guitar and played an English song. I had
other opportunities to visit houses of North Indians in Delhi and observed
that they love to watch Hindi television programmes and listen to Hindi
music. But as to the Naga people's gatherings, I observed that they were
listening to American music and watching Hollywood movies.
In the following section, I will examine why young Naga people do not
consume Hindi media products. However, in order to contextualise the
current political relationship between the Naga and the Government of
India, I will start by providing basic information of the Naga people, their
society and their brief history. Because English language materials on the
Naga are scarce, my discussion mainly draws from R. Vashum's book
Nagas' Right to Self-Determination.
A BRIEF INTRODUCTION: THE NAGA
The Naga are located in Northeast India. In present-day India, the Northeast
commonly refers to seven states: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, though recently Sikkim has
also been added to the list. The area borders Burma to the east, Bangladesh
to the south, Nepal to the west and Bhutan and China to the north. The
Northeast is a hilly area and has heavy rainfall. The people in the Northeast
are of mixed ethnicity, but in the eastern areas the people resemble more
like those from East Asia, Burma or Thailand.
Naga people mainly reside in Nagaland, but some of the "sub-tribes"
live in neighbouring states such as Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh,
while some live in Burma as well. The total population of the Naga is
estimated to be about 4 million (Vashum 2005). In the state of Nagaland, as
the name suggests, the Nagas are the main ethnic group, which includes
tribes like the Ao, Angami, Sema, Konyak, Lotha, Chakhesang, Rengma and
others. There are also non-Naga tribes such as the Kuki and Kachari. Apart
from the Naga people mentioned above, the Tangkhul and Mao are the
largest Naga groups living outside Nagaland. In some of the districts in
Manipur, the Nagas predominantly make up the population; for example, the
Thangkhuls live in the Ukhrul district, and the Zeliangrongs and Kharams
are the major ethnic groups in the Tamenglong district (Vashum 2005).
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The languages of the Nagas are very diverse. Nagamese, which is a
mixture of Assamese and Bengali, is commonly spoken in Nagaland, but
this language is not derived from the vernacular of the Nagas. Each
sub-tribe has its own language, and as mentioned above, people speak their
own dialect when they converse among themselves. Some tribes, such as the
Tangkhul, have their tribal language, but they also have their own village
languages. People from the same village speak their village language among
themselves, but when people from different villages gather, they use
Tangkhul for communication. Apart from their own dialects, English is
widely used. Schooling is conducted in English, so people who have
received formal education have a good command over this language; such
works to their advantage when they proceed to higher education. I have had
many good opportunities to attend Naga gatherings where the young people
from different tribes were speaking in English to converse with each other.
As for religion, the Nagas predominantly practise Christianity. In a
2001 census, 98.5 percent of the Scheduled Tribe (ST) population in
Nagaland was Christian.4 Before the introduction to Christianity, the Nagas
were practising their traditional religion. Christianity was introduced to the
Naga people in the 19th century. Most Naga Christians are of the Baptist
denomination (Vashum 2005). Christianity has also contributed to the
spread of the English language.
Vashum (2005) argues that the societies of the Naga are basically egalitarian
in structure, being classless and casteless. Traditional laws used to rule the
code of conduct for the Naga. Nowadays, civic law governs Naga societies,
although traditional customary laws are still influential for everyday
practices.
A Brief History of the Naga: Formation of Identity
Though it is believed that the Nagas migrated from outer regions, there is no
solid theory supporting this. Vashum (2005) states that the Nagas migrated
from present-day Yunnan province of China during prehistoric times.
Popular belief also holds that they came from the Southeast Islands and
moved up Northwest to arrive at the Naga Hills. In identity theory, as Hall
4
The data was extracted from: http://censusindia.gov.in/Tables_Published/SCST/dh_st_nagaland.pdf,
accessed on June 2011. According to this census, in Nagaland, 89.1 percent of the total population is
Scheduled Tribes. In Nagaland, the Nagas consist 98.2 percent of Scheduled Tribes.
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(1996) argues, identities are constructed through the encounter of "Others."
In what follows, I will show how the British were the "Others" for the
Nagas and which helped shape their national identity.
The Nagas had contacted other neighbouring tribes, of course, but it
was the British who initiated major contact with the Nagas, the first tribe
being the Angamis. The British went into the Naga Hills in the early 1830s
because they wanted to open the way through Manipur and Assam. Initially,
they did not intend to occupy the Naga Hills; however, occasional raids by
the Naga led them to conquer the area. In 1866, the British established the
Naga Hills District and then implemented the Inner Line Regulation in
1873. This line, as Vashum (2005) insists, did not in any way decide the
sovereignty of the territory beyond. The plantation owners were not allowed
to acquire the land beyond the line.
The British government recruited about 2,000 Nagas during the First
World War, and sent them to France as Labour Corps. As Yonuo argues:
"The journey across seas and countries awoke the
spunk of the Naga nationalism, like it had in other
parts of India, and they began to develop the
concept of a Naga nation, which had not been
dreamt of before" (Yonuo 1984 cited in Vashum
2005: 65).
In 1918, an association called the Naga Club was formed with the joint
efforts of government officials, village headsmen and Nagas who had
returned from France. In 1929, the Naga Club submitted a historical
Memorandum to the Simon Commission in Kohima; they demanded to be
released from the proposed Reformed Scheme of India (Vashum 2005). In
1941, the Deputy Commissioner of the Naga Hills and Governor of Assam
at the time suggested a scheme to carve out a trust territory called Crown
Colony, which included the Naga Hills, the Northeast Frontier areas in
upper Assam and the hill areas in upper Burma.
During the Second World War, the Naga Hills became a fierce battle
zone between the British and the Japanese. The Japanese army proceeded
from Burma in an attempt to occupy Imphal, which was the main supply
base of the Allies to China. The Japanese lost the battle against the British
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and retreated from the Naga Hills. The Imphal mission was very badly
organised and many Japanese soldiers died of malnutrition and tropical
diseases.
After the Second World War in February 1946, in order to unite the
Nagas and recover from the damages of the war, the Naga National Council
(NNC) was formed. Initially, the NNC did not speak about separation from
British India, but later on it demanded autonomy of the Naga Hills under
Assam, which was to be separated from Bengal (Vashum 2005). In 1947, the
NNC sent a Memorandum to the Viceroy of India to set up an Interim
Government for the Nagas over a period of ten years, at the end of which
the Naga people will be left to choose any form of government they wished.
The NNC declared Naga National Independence on 14 August 1947, one
day before the independence of India. British India did not recognise the
declaration at all of the Naga National Independence.
In December 1949, A. Z. Phizo, the leader who started to shape the
Naga nation, advocated the establishment of a sovereign Naga State outside
the Indian Union, complete with a separate flag, currency and so on, but the
Government of India did not agree to the terms. The NNC decided to
establish a separate sovereign state of Nagaland in April 1950 regardless,
and Phizo was elected as the president of the NNC in December 1950. The
Naga independence movement blossomed, but in 1955 the Government of
India decided to instil martial law in Assam. The military forces went on
razing to the ground almost all the villages in the Naga Hills; many Naga
people were killed (Vashum 2005). Phizo managed to escape and arrived in
London to lobby for the cause of Naga independence. At present, there are
many Nagas working toward independence, though the Government of
India is not ready to listen to their plea. Negotiations are ongoing.
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Figure 1: Young Naga people wearing traditional clothing,
from the Poumai community (Photo taken in Delhi by
author).
THE NAGA YOUTH IN DELHI: DISTINCT ETHNICITY
This section focuses on how Naga articulate their political situation (cf. Hall
1996). I will look at their consumption of media products and analyse
comments on their experiences in Delhi as well as their styles of
consumption.
When analysing comments, one should be careful in assuming that
the comments represent the voice of young Naga people, because each
individual has his or her own experiences. It is the task of the researcher to
find some commonalities among the informants' comments. One of the
commonalities I have found among the young Naga people I met in Delhi is
that most of their hometowns are located in the Naga Hills. They were born
in villages in Naga inhabited areas and received education in the vicinity.
Some people went to nearby boarding schools. They came to Delhi to
pursue their undergraduate degrees. For the young people who had grown
up in a small town or city, a mega city like Delhi can prove stimulating and
exciting. One girl told me:
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Ethnic Identity and Consumption
"I like going back home for holidays, but when I
stay there long, I begin to get bored. Delhi is noisy
and dirty, but it is more exciting. There are many
shops in Delhi from where I can buy nice, trendy
clothes, and many good restaurants where I can try
out various cuisines."
For young people, Delhi is a fun city where many things happen. Their
parents and grandparents are in their hometowns. They miss their
hometowns when they are in Delhi, but they know that the excitement they
get in Delhi is lacking in their hometowns.5
Income is important in a consumer economy. Upadhaya (2008), who
has conducted research on young people working in the information
technology (IT) industry, points out that software engineers and other IT
professionals receive relatively high incomes and therefore can indulge in
high levels of consumption. The income difference between these young
people and their parents, most of whom belong to old middle class is
noticeable (ibid.). One of Upadhaya's (2008) informants tells that he can just
go and buy a couch while his parents had to plan for four years, and that he
can buy a fridge immediately, but his parents had to plan for two years to
buy one and kept the same one for 25 years. According to Jaffrelot and Van
der Veer (2008), the old middle class was created by British rule in order to
persuade the intelligentsia to work for its administrative staff; in many
cases, the "new middle class" are descendants of the "old middle class."
In the case of the Naga, where British rule remained quite weak, as
Vashum (2005) mentions, class division did not occur. It was after the
independence of India that local people start working as salaried workers in
government related jobs. The young Nagas I met in Delhi are children of
these people, or children of farmers. For most Naga people, the lifestyle of
receiving a regular paid salary is relatively new. These young urban
professionals earn more money than their parents, are the new generation
receiving regular incomes from the private sector.
Vikali, as mentioned above, earns USD450 per month, which is not as
much as these IT employees make, but certainly much more than that of her
5
Of course, I also met quite a few young Naga people who are thinking about going back home after they
earn enough money to settle down.
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parents. She shares her house with two other girls. They have basic
electronic appliances, such as a fridge and a TV, and she has a laptop which
costs about USD650. Mobile phones are widely purchased. The prices are
USD25 for the very basic ones and USD500 for the latest smart phones, but
quite a few young people I met have mobile phones which cost around
USD200 or above.
Students consume more frugally than young professionals. It is not
common for students to take a part-time job in India. Students who come
from low-income families and have good academic records are entitled for
scholarships from the Government of India and can be prioritised to stay in
university hostels. They can also receive monthly allowances of about
USD15, which is little money, but since they stay in the hostel and meals are
provided, 15 dollars can help them out with small everyday expenses. Since
Naga students are categorised under the ST status, they have a better chance
to receive scholarships. Apart from that, many of them receive allowances
from their parents or siblings. The Naga students I am in touch with do not
have fancy smart phones, but they have mid-range mobile phones with
cameras and music functions. Some of them have laptops.
For Hindu Indians, caste is an important factor for their identities;
however, for the Naga, since most of them are Christians, caste does not
come into their identity issues. Instead, they carry a strong ethnic identity.
As Hall (1996) argues, identity is constructed through the advent of the
"Other;" when an Indian person goes abroad, to a place like the U.K., he or
she become a minority and struggle for his or her ethnic identity. "Asians"
living in the U.K. are homogeneously perceived in general. People with
Pakistani origins and Indian origins are occasionally mixed up by non-South
Asian British people. Similarly, the Nagas are a minority group in India.
When they come to Delhi, many of them experience being stared at by other
Indians. One of my friends Amy remarked:
"Those Indians are very loud and rude. They stare at me with
dirty eyes. They call us Chinky, or istake us as Manipuris or
Nepalese. I am sick of it."
In Amy's comment, there is the term "Chinky," which refers to people from
the Northeast. The etymology of the term is not clear, but I assume that the
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term is derived from Chinese. Because Northeastern people do not look like
mainstream Indians, but look more like Chinese, the term is used to refer
Northeastern people. Chinky is a derogatory term and is used with some
insult. Because their appearance is different from "typical" Indians,
North-Easterners are looked on as "different," and not socially included in
the group of "us." Some look down on Northeastern people by calling them
Chinky. This ethnic difference is the main reason why Amy used the word
"Indians" to refer to the people from other parts of India. Technically, Amy is
also an Indian; however she distinguishes herself from Indians. Not only
Naga people, but people from other parts of the Northeast used the term
"Indian" in the same way. I have some friends from Tamil Nadu, a state in
South India. Some of them are not always happy about Delhi-centred
politics, which is represented by North Indians in many ways. However, I
have never heard them using terms like "those Indians" when referring to
North Indians. This means that they are identifying themselves as Indians.
On the contrary, it can be said that Northeastern people separate themselves
from Indians, judging from their use of the term "Indians" when they refer to
the people from other parts of India.6 I talked to many Naga people during
my stay in India, and they told me that they had a strong Naga identity. In
the case of Naga people, their mentioning of the term "Indians" when they
refer to people from other parts of India can be interpreted as separating
themselves from India, and also it is possible to argue that they are
ethnically separating themselves from other parts of India. For the Naga,
"Indians" are people from non-Northeastern part of India, who also compose
of the people of India; "India" is the country where "Indian" people live. For
the Naga, they are not ethnically "Indians" and they are not "Indian" either,
although they are technically Indian nationals.
6
The strength of Indian identity varies depending on the regions in the Northeast. Due to historical
reasons mentioned above, Naga people's "Indian" identity is quite weak in general.
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MEDIA AND POP CULTURE OF THE NAGA
As I have mentioned previously, Naga people have different consumption
behaviours of media products compared to the Hindi speaking North Indian
people. They have a tendency not to consume Hindi media products. This
section will discuss how their political struggle, including their
consciousness of ethnic identity, is reflected in their media practice.
For North Indians, the pattern of consumption behaviour on the media
products is related to their education and income. Hindi movies and music
are widely consumed by young people in Delhi. However, people whose
main language is Hindi are more devoted to Hindi media products than
English speaking people. The young North Indians whose first language is
English follow the hit Hindi movies and music, but they also watch
Hollywood movies and listen to English songs. Many young English
speaking North Indian people I met appreciate Western media products
more than Hindi products. At home, they watch English programs, news,
talk shows, movies, documentaries, history programs and so on.
On the emergence of Hindi youth culture, I would argue, it has just
begun. Here, I would like to briefly introduce the development of youth
culture in Japan, where the author comes from, to give the readers some idea
about how the youth culture had developed in other parts of Asia.
In Japan's case, as Miyadai et al. (1993) argue, youth culture emerged
in the mid 1950s. Before that, there was no clear distinction between the
younger generation and the older generation in terms of their media
consumption. People, regardless of their ages, watched the same movies and
listened to the same music. But since the mid 1950s, the category of the
"youth" has become more overt, and the entertainment industry has started
providing icons for young people. For the older generation, the music which
young people were listening to became too noisy. After the 1970s, according
to Miyadai et al. (1993), the separation became more complicated, and the
differences of young people in terms of media consumption emerged. The
difference became much clearer in the early 1990s, and the fragmentation of
sub-cultural practice has become quite evident since then.
In the case of India, as Jaffrelot and van der Veer (2008) point out, the
liberalisation of the economy in the early 1990s affected the pattern of
consumption. Before liberalisation, since the market was closed, foreign
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products were not so much available for Indian consumers. However, after
the opening of the market, Western products have flooded into India, and
people's tastes have begun to be affected by the West. Contrary to the idea of
Gandhism and subsequent Nehru's socialism that value frugality, the new
middle class people tend to value materialistic wealth, although there is a
criticism against the pursuit of narrow self-interest.
During my stay in Delhi starting in 2007, I have observed that Hindi
movies and music cross generation and gender. In this respect, youth culture
has not emerged yet. However, this does not mean that youth culture has
never existed in India. It has always existed among English speaking
crowds. They have been listening to English pop-rock music, which the
older generation does not listen to. But for Hindi speaking people, media
products have been shared by many groups of people. Hindi media targeted
primarily at young audiences has only recently emerged. MTV India is
showing reality shows where young Indians participate and Hindi rock
music is gaining popularity. These media products are not consumed by the
older generation.
In the case of Naga people, Hindi media products are rarely
consumed. Young people watch Hollywood movies and listen to American
music, so youth culture is filled with Americanisation. Playing guitar is
quite popular among young boys, namely the music of American rock
bands. They also like heavy metal a good deal. Tom, a young Naga boy in
his early 20s, told me:
"I don't like Hindi music. It's just boring. The
melodies are the same, and the girls sing in a
high-pitched voice. I don't watch Hindi movies,
either. They just sing and dance. Not interesting at
all. I don't understand their language, either. I like
rock music. I also play guitar. Indian people don't
listen to rock. You know, when American rock
stars come to hold concerts in India, they come to
Shillong, not Mumbai and not Delhi. They know
that we Northeasterners are listening to their
music."
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Satoshi Ota
I had an opportunity to visit Tom's house. He shares a flat with his relatives.
The owner of the flat is the parent of one of the residents. There was a
television set in the living room connected to satellite television. They were
watching English programmes and they told me that they did not watch
Hindi programmes. They are in India and have Indian nationality, but they
are hardly attached to Indian media products, except news, which is
domestic news broadcast in English.
Naga people are not only consuming foreign media products but are
also producing their own media products. They make films and music. The
productions are done in their hometowns, and there are local rock and pop
bands creating albums. Some of my Naga friends in Delhi have these music
clips and put them into their mobile phones. Because the number of listeners
and viewers is small, these media producers do not have targeted ages,
although young people are more inclined to view/listen to them. One of the
traits of local media production among Naga people is that they are made in
their local dialects. The friends I mentioned who have their local pop music
are from the Tangkhul community. Their songs are sung in the Tangkhul
language and their movies are also made in Tangkhul. Other Naga tribes are
also making their own media products. These activities are helping them to
evoke local identities.
Figure 2: Students playing music at a "freshers' event"
(Photo taken in Delhi by author).
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Another characteristic of Naga people's media consumption is that Korean
media products are very popular among young people. This is an interesting
phenomenon. Korean, as well as other East Asian films, television dramas
and music are hardly consumed in other parts of India. Japanese animations
are beginning to be broadcast on television, but East Asian television stars
are scarcely known by the mainstream Indians. Probably Jackie Chan and
Bruce Lee are the only stars widely known in India. However in
Northeastern India, Korean movie stars and singers are recognised by many
young people. They watch Korean dramas on DVDs smuggled through
Burma or downloaded from the Internet. A few of my Naga friends
mentioned that some people in their hometown subscribe to the Arirang
Channel through satellite television. The Arirang Channel is a Korean
television station. Vikali, the Naga girl mentioned in the ethnography
section, said:
"I like Korean dramas because they look like us.
We are Asian, right? And you know, the Korean
language is popular among young people in my
hometown now because of Korean drama. They
pick up some Korean words and mix them with
English when they send SMSs. This is good
because parents don't understand Korean, so boys
and girls can send secret SMSes to each other."
Vikali's comment is interesting suggesting that Asian is quite an elusive
entity. For the British, the word refers to South Asia, but in the United
States, people imagine East Asian when they hear the word. For Vikali, Asia
refers to the area where people of similar appearance like her live. From her
word use, it is possible to read that she is identifying herself more strongly
to "Asia" rather than "India." Vikali is not the only one person who has
made such comments. Quite a few young Nagas I met mentioned the
popularity of Korean media products among them, and they discuss their
fondness of Korean stars. They told me that being similar looking is a key
factor to identifying themselves with the actors and they also feel that
Korean dramas are more real compared to Bollywood films.
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CONCLUSION
This paper has explored the characteristics of young Naga people's
consumption practices. Young Naga people come to Delhi for study and stay
there for work. These young people can earn much more than their parents.
This cluster of people is considered to be the new middle class. As
Fernandes (2007) argues, class is a space for interaction between structure
and middle class identity. I also observed these interactions by looking at
Hindu young people during my field research in India. Young people who
are from non-high castes and take a job in a big city to earn a substantial
amount of money are finding their space within this structured society. In
the case of the Naga people, caste structure is non-existent. Instead,
ethnicity is a very important factor for identity struggles. Among the
Hindus, the state boundary is clearly defined. Even if the people are from
different caste status, they are in the same large framework, being India.
Therefore, although they are in different castes they are still "us" in this big
framework. This framework can be applied to religion too. In India, many
religions are practised. Apart from Hindus, there is a large Muslim
population. There are also Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and so
on. There are large numbers of Muslim people in Delhi, but as far as my
fieldwork experience goes I can say that the Muslim people I met consider
themselves as Indians and Hindu people also see them as Indians, although
bloodshed and clashes occasionally break out between them. The same
exists between Sikhs and Hindus. There is a substantial number of
Christians in Kerala, a state in South India. I imagine that the majority of
them relate their identity as Indians.
However, when it comes to ethnic issues, things are a little more
complicated. North India and South India are ethnically divided; they also
belong to different language families. However, the South Indians I met
have Indian identity, and North Indians also consider them as Indians.
Punjabis are regarded as North Indians but sub-ethnically, they distinguish
themselves from the people in Uttar Pradesh or Haryana. Many Punjabis
practise the Sikh religion, and men in certain sects wear turbans. In India,
"Punjabis" are stigmatised with a stereotypical image. In this sense, they
stand out from other ethnic groups; however, they are still "us" to both
Punjabis and other Indians. The interesting case is Bengal. The state is
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Ethnic Identity and Consumption
divided into two: West Bengal and Bangladesh (formerly East Bengal). I
have met scores of Bengalis in Delhi. From their conversations, I would
argue that they have Bengali identity, but they also have strong Indian
identity. However, my Bengali contacts were only in Delhi; some were born
in Delhi, and some moved from West Bengal to study or work. But as far as
the Bengali people I met in Delhi are concerned, it seems that they feel
closer to the people from other parts of India than to the people from
Bangladesh, except for those who moved from Bangladesh during the
Partition. For many West Bengal people, Indian identity overshadows
Bengali identity. This can also be applied to the Punjabi people who reside
where the land is divided between India and Pakistan. As I have not been to
Kolkata, I cannot tell whether people in Kolkata are more attached to the
Bangladeshis than to non-Bengali Indians, but the important thing is, they
have a strong Indian identity. And other Indians naturally consider Bengalis
as Indians.
In this respect, it can be said that "unity in diversity" has been
realised. Unity in diversity is the national motto of India. When I ask Indian
kids and young people about the traits of India, they answer with the phrase,
"unity in diversity." However, in the case of the Nagas, things are not the
same. Ethnic identity is quite a big issue for them. Back to the topic of
middle class identity, in case of caste issues, it can be discussed within the
framework of India, although for the Naga people, this framework itself is
questionable. They have slipped out of the net bound by the slogan "unity in
diversity," despite the fact that the Government of India is trying to
incorporate Northeastern people into "India."
The question of the framework is reflected in their media
consumption. Because of their English language ability, it is natural for
them to appreciate Hollywood films and American music, but their
consumption of American media products articulates their taste of
consumption. In this case, the Naga young people attribute their fondness of
American media products to good taste. If we expand Bourdieu's (1984)
argument of taste to global popular culture, American popular culture is
considered to be at the highest rank among many young people in Asia. In
India's case, those young people who are accessing American popular
culture are considered to be cooler than those who are into Hindi music, so
they consider themselves to have better taste in terms of appreciating
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popular culture. They think they have more "subcultural capital" (cf.
Thornton 1995). The young Naga people think that they know more about
American popular culture than local Hindi speaking boys do. They consider
themselves to be in the superior position in the world of youth popular
culture, despite their difficult position as an ethnic minority group in
everyday life.
Their position as an ethnic minority also affects their disposition of
appreciating Korean media products. Bollywood is a mega dynamo for the
production of popular culture. However, Northeastern people are hardly
represented in the Indian entertainment industry. A Naga girl told me that
she cannot identify herself in Bollywood films because they look
completely different from her. Instead, she can identify herself in Korean
stars as a member of an "Asian." Her Asian identity is stronger than her
Indian identity, if it indeed exists. For her, Asia is roughly East and
Southeast Asia.7 Here, we can observe that their political situation is
articulated in their pattern of media consumption. In the case of the Naga,
analysing young people's fondness of consuming American and Korean
media products and their rejection of Hindi films and music makes it
feasible to argue that ethnicity, language and politics became important
factors in selecting media products to consume.
As mentioned above, Naga identity emerged during British rule and
the Nagas attempted to establish a nation-state right after the Second World
War. The movement still continues, but it is a very difficult goal to achieve.
The Northeast is geopolitically an important area because it serves as a
buffer zone to China. Naturally, the Government of India does not want to
release the area. Moreover, it is difficult from an economic point of view.
There is no strong industry in Naga areas. Agriculture is their main industry,
but produce is mainly consumed within the area. Most of the salaried jobs
are government related jobs. The economy is totally dependent on the
Government of India. Because jobs are very limited back home, young
people go out to the big cities like Delhi. As the above-mentioned Naga girl
7
The connection between one's appearance and the disposition of his/her media consumption can be
affected by various factors. For example, Hindi media products are widely appreciated by people in
Arunachal Pradesh. The area borders China, and the people look like East Asians. However, they possess
Indian identity and enjoy watching Bollywood films. Because of the lack of space, this paper focuses on
the Naga people, but it is worth researching Arunachal's case. In the case of the Naga people, I placed
their explanation of their detachment to Bollywood popular culture. The difference between Arunachal
and the Nagas regarding their preference of Hindi media products comes largely from their historical
process of becoming a part of India. Hindi language is also commonly spoken in Arunachal.
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argued, life in the big city is appealing to young people. In order to maintain
the middle-class lifestyle, it is more beneficial to remain as part of the
Indian nation; however, if they pursue this direction, their ethnic identity
will weaken. This will make it more and more difficult to realise their hope
for independence. For the Nagas, pursuing a middle class life contains an
ambivalent element.
Right now, most of the Naga in Delhi have their hometowns and
come to Delhi at the start of college. After graduation, they stay in Delhi and
start working. Then they will find partners and have children. These
Delhi-born children are growing up now. Because they were born in Delhi,
their attachment to the Naga villages is weakening. They can also speak
Hindi. I can imagine that their identities and values will change from the
ones which their parents hold. From this perspective, the Naga relationship
between ethnicity, language, politics and media consumption will not
remain the same.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks is given to the anonymous reviewers and editorial suggestions by
David Blundell and the proofreader Ben Hlavaty. I also thank Yin C.
Chuang for patiently waiting for my article as well as giving me advice to
improve this article. Finally, I am grateful to Ann Heylen for encouraging
me to complete this article and for helping me to clarify my arguments.
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